Managing information about relationships in a social network via a social timeline

• US 9,413,812 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2011
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sittig, Aaron, Zuckerberg, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): BROWN, SHEREE N
• Application Number:
  US13/338,086
• Publication Number:
  US 20120096038A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,687 Days
• Field of Search: 707/784
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2477 Temporal data queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program for generating a social timeline is provided. A plurality of data items associated with at least one relationship between users associated with a social network is received, each data item having an associated time. The data items are ordered according to the at least one relationship. A social timeline is generated according to the ordered data items.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

maintaining in a computer system a plurality of relationships among a plurality of users of a social networking system;

receiving information at a social networking system about a plurality of events that pertain to the users of the social networking system;

generating a social timeline, the social timeline comprising a visual representation for a subset of the plurality of the events associated with a subject user of the social networking system;

sending the social timeline for display to a viewing user of the plurality of users of the social networking system;

receiving from the viewing user a request to add a new event to the social timeline;

editing the social timeline, based on the request, to include the new event; and

sending the edited social timeline for display to the viewing user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a plurality of events that are associated with the subject user of the social networking system, wherein the selected events are used for generating the social timeline.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the subject user is the viewing user who requested to edit the social timeline.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting two or more events that are associated with a relationship between a first user and a second user of the social networking system, wherein the selected events are used for generating the social timeline.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the editing of the event in the social timeline, sending a story for display to another user who is connected to the viewing user in the social networking system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the request from the viewing user to add the new event the social timeline, sending a confirmation request to the subject user of the social networking system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to add the new event to the social timeline comprises a request to add time information associated with the new event in the social timeline.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to add the new event to the social timeline comprises a request to add a photo associated with the new event in the social timeline.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request from the viewing user to delete an event from the social timeline.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the social timeline further comprises selectable links such that selection of the links provides access to information about the relationships associated with the links.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the viewing user a request to edit an existing event on the social timeline.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:

maintaining in a computer system a plurality of relationships among a plurality of users of a social networking system, each relationship comprising a connection between two or more users of the social networking system;

receiving information about a plurality of events that involve a subject user of the plurality of users;

generating a social timeline for the subject user, the social timeline comprising a chronological listing of information about the plurality of events that involve the subject user;

receiving a request to add one or more new events on the social timeline;

editing the social timeline based on the request to add the one more new events; and

sending the edited social timeline for display to a viewing user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the request to add the one or more new events on the social timeline is received from the subject user.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the request to add the one or more new events on the social timeline is received from a user of the social networking system other than the subject user.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

responsive to the editing of the social timeline, sending a story for display to another user who is connected in the social networking system to a user from whom the request to add the one or more events on the social timeline was received.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

responsive to the request to add the one or more new events to the social timeline, sending a confirmation request to the subject user of the social networking system.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the request to add the one or more new events on the social timeline comprises a request to add time information associated with the one or more new events in the social timeline.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the request to add the one or more new events on the social timeline comprises a request to add a photo associated with the new event in the social timeline.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving a request to delete an event from the social timeline.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving from a viewing user a request to edit an existing event on the social timeline.